Penguins Crosby Shirt Missing After Flight

[singh4us]

was reported on local news that it hasbeen found and is in process of being returned.
castlevetter would not comment on how's or why's...

[post="311378"][/post]​

USATODAY Updated 10/12/2005 11:45 AM

Crosby's NHL debut jersey lost, recovered at Pittsburgh airport - 10:51 AM

Did airline workers swipe NHL star's hockey jersey?http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/today/sky.htm


That's the question being asked after Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby's hockey jersey disappeared from checked luggage for the second time in a year.

The latest came Sunday on a Pittsburgh-to-Buffalo flight. Crosby's father checked his son's jersey in his bag only to find his luggage partially unzipped when he went to pick it up at baggage claim in Buffalo. Missing was the jersey his son wore in his first NHL game, described as "game worn and full of sentimental value" by The Globe and Mail (free registration) of Toronto. The younger Crosby is also one of the National Hockey League's most-touted rookies this season, going first in the draft — meaning a game-worn jersey could conceivably fetch a hefty price among collectors of sports memorabilia. The jersey was ultimately found at Pittsburgh International Airport, where The Associated Press says a US Airways employee discovered the shirt near a stairway used to load luggage onto planes.

The employee notified airport personnel, who are now working to return the jersey to the Crosby family. Still, the discovery of the jersey raised more questions than it answered — such as whether the jersey fell out of the bag or whether it was taken. "We certainly don't want to engage in speculation," says US Airways spokesman David Castelveter. "The important thing is that it was found. ... There is an investigation. We'll keep asking questions." A Pittsburgh Airport official says police are also investigating. In an incident in January, the jersey Crosby wore during the junior world championships was "removed" from his luggage while he changed plans in Montreal. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says an Air Canada baggage handler later confessed and was fired from his job, though he avoided criminal charges.

Posted 7:55 a.m. ET

 

[EyeInTheSky]

This was an editorial in Saturday's Post-Gazette:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05288/588933.stm

Editorial: High-flying jersey / What's so secure about airport security?
Saturday, October 15, 2005

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Call off the dogs and stop trolling eBay: Sidney Crosby's historic first-NHL-game jersey turned up.

It had gone missing from a checked bag on a US Airways flight from Pittsburgh to Buffalo last Sunday. A US Airways spokesman said the jersey was found Monday night between a piece of equipment and a stairwell at Pittsburgh International Airport.

It's hard to believe the escape of the jersey was accidental; dirty laundry and shoes in the same bag made it to Buffalo without incident, and his name was on the bag's claim tag. The investigation, we are told, will continue.

This sort of thing is all too common, and often without the happy ending. Mr. Crosby has been lucky both times it happened to him: An Air Canada baggage handler swiped his world junior championship sweater out of a checked bag in Montreal in January but returned it later.

Penguins captain Mario Lemieux, who wisely keeps special items in his carry-on, commented, "You'd think when you're traveling that it's pretty safe, that when you check your luggage and get to your destination, everything's going to be intact."

You'd think, especially post-9/11. But both cargo handlers and Transportation Safety Administration screeners have been caught with their hands in the Samsonite. In May, 13 workers handling mail at San Francisco International were indicted for lifting laptops, digital cameras and other techno treats out of packages destined for U.S. soldiers in Japan. And TSA employees have been caught helping themselves to things in checked baggage; last year in New York, surveillance video showed them freeloading freely. It's hard to prevent theft when they're authorized to cut locks off.

Most of us don't have access to the publicity power of an NHL hockey star, and the items that may disappear from our bags don't have our names emblazoned on the backs. But theft by people who are supposed to be protecting us is downright bizarre -- and points to a gaping hole in the security of our air transportation system. With the piles of money spent to protect travelers from terrorism failing to protect us even from simple theft, we're left to wonder if we'll all lose our shirts.